One fun aspect of planning your wedding is choosing a theme upon which the wedding attire, décor, invitations, and foods are based. Your wedding theme reflects your interests and sets a mood and tone for the ceremony and accompanying reception. If you need to stretch your wedding budget, you can easily do it with your choice of wedding theme.

Wedding themes can be as simple as choosing a color for the bridesmaid’s dresses. Then you can use that color throughout the ceremony in the décor of the church and the color of the flowers. Infusing your color into your wedding favors, table settings, and centerpieces at the reception completes your nuptials in your own special cost-saving design.

Or wedding themes can be more complex, reflecting concepts like a garden, the Asian culture, or the beach. Selecting a conceptual theme allows your creativity to shine through. Clothing, flowers, church décor, the reception hall, and even food selection can create a lovely, personalized wedding.

Consider these ideas for budget-friendly wedding themes:

1.      Color theme. Choosing a color-themed wedding can make it easier for you to spend less money on your wedding. For this example, let’s say you’ve chosen red and white as your wedding color theme. Because the colors of red and white “pop” when used together, you won’t have to spend much extra money to add more flair to the event.

·         The bride wears either a white or red dress purchased at a bridal sale. The groom wears a rented black suit, white shirt, red tie and vest.

·         Select simple arrangements of inexpensive white flowers. White delphiniums, statice, larkspur, spider mums, carnations, and gardenias are low-cost, lovely white flower varieties.

·         On the day of the wedding, the bride’s helpers wrap the bouquets in flowing red ribbons. Do the same for flower centerpieces on reception dining tables.

·         Large white bowls filled with red apples or strawberries are budget-friendly table centerpieces and keep within the red and white theme.

·         Choose table settings of red tablecloths, white plates, and red napkins at the reception.

2.       Garden theme. The garden theme focuses on all things related to nature that might be found in a garden.

·         Several artificial green potted trees provide a lovely garden setting as a low-cost alternative to real greenery.

·         Line the church altar with smaller silk potted plants to reflect a garden look.
·         Use inexpensive, fresh flower arrangements as centerpieces on the reception tables.

·         Small garden statues and bird figurines arranged near the centerpieces provide a nice touch, as do birdhouses. Shop for the statues, bird figurines, and birdhouses in a discount craft or garden store.

·         A perfect setting for a garden-themed wedding is, of course, outdoors where green grass, trees, and beautiful plantings surround the entire wedding party and guests. Many outdoor venues cost thousands of dollars less than renting an indoor location.

3.       Beach theme. An oceanside or beach theme allows everyone to get in on the act, even your guests.

·         The beach theme reduces wedding costs because the theme is less formal. Therefore, wedding attire for the bride and groom is less expensive. The bride wears a simple white dress. The groom dons light blue trousers and shirt to reflect the ocean’s colors.

·         Wedding invitations inform guests to wear colors that reflect the hues of the sea and sand.

·         Use clear glass containers brimming with seashells as décor and table centerpieces. Add white or sand-colored candles, if you like.  

Exploring themes, décor, and wedding attire in advance will help you decide what you can afford. If you’re willing to do some of the work yourself and ask friends and relatives for help, you can celebrate your themed wedding without breaking the bank.

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In these tough economic times, you are probably keeping a close eye on where every penny goes, even when it comes to that most cherished of events, your wedding day. You want nothing but the best for the occasion, but at the same time, you have a budget that you need to stick to like a bumblebee on a wedding flower. That’s why exploring homemade wedding centerpiece ideas will not only save you money but you can also create a memorable decoration that will remind you of that special day for years to come.

Homemade wedding centerpieces ideas will allow you to put a personal touch on your wedding that a professional decorator may not be able to duplicate. You are limited only by your imagination, and your own flair for decorating. And even if you have never made or designed a centerpiece before, or you don’t feel you have the ability, the good news is that you don’t have to be an expert to come up with one that will create a buzz among your wedding guests. All it takes is a little time and a few basic supplies to make it happen.

One example of inexpensive homemade wedding centerpiece ideas that add a personal touch includes creating a monogrammed container, such as a white wooden or plastic pail. Just paint your monogram on the pail and fill it with a bunch of flowers such as daisies, and surround it with candles. In little time, and better yet, at little cost, you have created a work of art. To personalize your centerpiece even more, place bride and groom photos on a stick inside the pail. The more of your own personality you put into your centerpiece, the more unique and memorable it will be.

Floating candles also make for great homemade wedding centerpiece ideas. Just fill bowls or vases with water and place the candles inside. To make it more decorative, you can add food coloring to the water, and/or flower petals. And if time is an issue, or you don’t want to put a lot of effort into the project, baskets or bowls of fresh fruit can make a beautiful centerpiece, and you can even purchase them already packaged if you don’t want to do it yourself. Don’t let the expense keep you from having a wedding that your guests will envy. A little imagination can go a long way.

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Looking for cheap wedding ideas doesn’t mean sacrificing on the quality of your wedding. In fact it can definitely help you to have the wedding of your dreams by enabling you to know where to spend money as necessary, especially where skimping on costs could jeopardise your day, e.g. using a friend to take the photo’s, risking poor quality pictures (arms and heads cut off!) instead of investing in a professional photographer. Afterall these photos will be the lasting memory of your big day.

Having been a bride myself, I do totally understand that it’s your big day and you want it to be the most fabulous occasion possible, perfect in every way. However to avoid overspending on your wedding see below the following important first step and two great examples of cheap wedding ideas:

Plan a Budget Wedding

Set that all important wedding budget. Without some sort of overall idea of spend, things can quickly get out of hand with spiralling costs. By doing this there is less likelihood of still paying for the wedding after the grandchildren have arrived!

1.  Create your own Wedding Invites

If you have a creative streak and are handy with the computer you can design your own wedding invitations, save to a computer file and take to an office supply shop for printing on the paper of your choice. It allows you to personalise them. Your guests will love their uniqueness and you’ll save money as well with this idea which is one of many cheap wedding tips.

2.  Negotiate

Don’t just accept the first price given to you for services, shop around and see where you can strike a deal with the service provider. Nowadays businesses are competing for customers so bargains can be had if you simply “ask”.

Careful planning and being creative with cheap wedding ideas can be the perfect solution to help you into married life.

Do remember, it’s not about how much you spend on your wedding but the commitment you and your fiance have made to each other, don’t lose sight of that as you’re knee deep in wedding planning.

It can be tough to plan the wedding of your dreams while sticking with a budget. The good news, though is that there are ways to cut costs without losing style points. These are some money saving tips for wedding food and drinks that every couple should know.

The alcohol budget at a wedding can be huge! Many couples fear that the only way to cut costs on the bar bill is to have the dreaded open bar. Don’t do it! It is a sure fire way to irritate your guests and to make your reception tacky. Instead look for ways to trim costs without being obvious.

One of the most surefire ways to trim the budget for both your food and drink is to choose the date and time of your reception carefully. To spend less on food, think early or late. Brunch will always be a less costly option than dinner, so if you are a morning person, have a 10am ceremony followed by a brunch reception. A bonus is that people will not drink nearly as much at brunch as at dinner. A full bar is by no means a necessity for a brunch reception, either. You can pretty much get by with Bloody Marys, mimosas, and a nice selection of soda and fresh squeezed fruit juices.

A late night reception can be another possible way to cut back on your menu costs, but you will still have a big bar tab to pick up at a cocktail style reception. One idea is to offer a limited menu of beer and wine, along with several signature cocktail. This drastically reduces the variety of bottles you will need to have in your bar. If you are serving a cocktail with a fairly strong flavor, you can also plan to get by with a medium priced vodka or rum, as opposed to the top notch brands. If you wish, have a few bottles of the better liquor brands on hand for the bartender to use for rocks drinks or those which are mixed only with tonic or soda. This is a sneaky way to save a bit, and your guests will never know the difference.

The day of the week that you choose for your wedding can be a great money saver. If you change your wedding from a Saturday night to a Sunday, for instance, the chances are that people will drink less, especially the locals who plan to go to work the next morning. If you move your wedding to a Thursday night, not only might the bar tab go down, but you may also be able to negotiate lower prices with many of your vendors, including the caterer. This is fantastic, as it can be a way to fit the celebration that you want into your budget without sacrificing anything.

Many weddings have themes, and there are options that will allow you to play up your theme while cutting back on expenses at the same time, especially if you choose your theme wisely. For instance, let’s say that you are having a beach theme wedding. Start off by choosing a beachy wedding gown and handmade wedding jewelry. (Wedding jewelry with tropical motifs like shells or starfish would be ideal.) Then go with a food and drink menu that reinforces your motif. Instead of a full bar, plan just a couple of fun tropical drinks and go to town with the presentation. Chunks of fresh fruit, paper umbrellas, and the like will put your guest in the island spirit without making a dent in your budget. Casual food is great by the beach, so skip the surf and turf in favor of island favorites like jerk chicken. Festive and affordable!

The great news is that there are many ways in which a couple can cut back on their food and drink expenses without having a wedding that looks cheap or chintzy. With a little creativity and careful planning, you can have a reception that feels welcoming and abundant, while still having money left over at the end of the day.

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Perfect wedding is not necessarily equal to luxurious wedding with big sum of money spent. So why not try to collect more money

saving skills for your fall wedding ideas this autumn? For those wise couple in seeking of eco-friendly wedding, the following

lists are also essential.

If your big day fall into sunny autumn season, you can plan an outdoor wedding or destination wedding which will definitely cost

much less if you hold a grand boutique, also those fall flowers, foliage in your backyard can be also perfect decoration as well as

saving money.

As for the choosing of wedding flowers, fall season presents us various brilliant colors, so you can try the best to choose less

expensive flowers, let me say daisies, sun flowers, even some wild flowers would help you create a unique wedding.

Saving money on bridal gowns or bridesmaid dress can be also great skills. Since the weather is changing cooler, and bridal gowns

in most cases will have long-sleeved or matched with jacket or something, so why waste the money to buy gowns that you will never

wear them anymore? Renting the dress for bride and bridesmaid will save you a lot of money.

For ceremony decoration, if you want to reduce the money, you can buy some items and then planning DIY wedding ideas. For instance,

buying ordinary candles and then matched with fall themed items will work well on the ceremony. Also, for the guest’s name card,

you could use small pictures frames.

Besides, during the ceremony, you could encourage your friends to snap the picture for you. In this way, the guests will feel part

of your big day and sometimes, they could help you shoot the photos unnoticed by the photographer.

To sum up, before your wedding, just collect as more unique wedding ideas as possible and bear in mind saving money on wedding

will also create a perfect wedding.

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Weddings these days can really cost a fortune, so you might immediately think of all possible ideas on how to save money on your wedding. Fortunately, there are many ways on how to trim down some of your wedding expenditures. One great idea is to think about cheap wedding favors. However, this doesn’t mean you will be giving out unappealing favors at your wedding, making your special day less memorable. Rather with a bit of creativity, you can definitely have great wedding favors that doesn’t cost you a fortune.

You might not mind of what style of wedding you are having, the important thing is you have the wedding favors for all your guests. Since rarely does someone show up without a gift for the newlyweds, it is in good taste to show your taste by having wedding favors. If you have a large number of guests in your guests list, your wedding favor expenditure can be easily out of control. As a result, many brides and grooms make use of the advantages that are in cheap wedding favors.

It is very important to determine the budget before you start to organize your wedding. Within the planning process of determining your budget, you will wish to decide how much money you are willing to spend on each detail of your wedding celebration. So after you have decided, then you will know whether you want to continue with relatively cheap wedding favors or really cheap wedding favors.

The presentation of wedding favors is also one of the most important thing you need to consider. If your creative enough to make the cheap favors look great, nobody will notice that they were not bought expensively. For instance, tiny candies, mints and chocolates can make affordable edible favors, you can make them look great by placing in small fancy favor boxes. You can find a bunch of small cheap wedding favor fold up boxes, put a few tiny treats in them and with just a bit of touch, you have created fancy and elegant wedding memorabilia at a fraction of cost.

Another great affordable option to keep in mind in having cheap wedding favors is to avoid wedding favors that have a wedding subject to them. For instance, purchasing a small box shaped like a wedding cake will be more expensive than other really adorable cute boxes. Aside from these boxes filled with tiny treats, you may also consider cheap favors like candles and soap. These days, many people are crazy on candles, and therefore, candles are perfect for favors thinking how cheap they can be. You you want, and you have plenty of time left, you can make your own candle or soap favors. There are many craft store that offer DIY soap kits, candle kits and others. You can work with yourself alone, or you can bring together a manpower to have a fun bonding while making homemade wedding favors.

Cheap wedding favors are indeed a great help to save money on your wedding. And if you are really on a tight budget, you can always cut cost on some details of your wedding. Why not give inexpensive bridesmaids gifts to your female attendants, instead of giving luxurious wedding gifts that they will most likely display during special events only? You can do the same idea also when it comes to groomsmen gifts. To have a cheap wedding ideas doesn’t mean compromising what you really have desired for your wedding day. Rather, it’s just a matter of giving extra effort to make the ”cheap idea” look fantastic to make your special day worth to be remembered.